Ellen: Bill Clinton: Osama Bin Laden & Clinton Foundation Charity

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Ellen: Bill Clinton & Osama Bin Laden

It’s been one year since Seal Team 6 apprehended and killed terrorist Osama Bin Laden. You may recall the iconic photo of President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others in the White House Situation Room as the events unfolded.

Ellen DeGeneres asked President Bill Clinton about when he learned what was going on that night. He said that Hillary Clinton never spoke a word about the situation to him, and he was notified through the White House. See more of What Clinton Thinks About Hillary and his Global Challenge.

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Former President Bill Clinton reflected on the death of Osama Bin Laden while chatting with Ellen. (Image Credit: Jose Gil / Shutterstock.com)

Ellen: President Clinton 9/11

He went on to say that, since his wife became Secretary of State, he elected not to get daily security briefings that the CIA makes available to former presidents. He said that he didn’t want to make her job harder in some way by having too much information.

“It was a long saga for me,” he said. “Deeply, personally emotional.” He recalled losing friends in the September 11th attacks. In 2001, Hillary Clinton was a New York senator, and their daughter Chelsea was in Lower Manhattan during the attacks. “It was an emotional moment,” he said.

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Ellen: The Clinton Foundation

Bill Clinton continues to pursue charity work since leaving the Oval Office over a decade ago. The Clinton Foundation works on fighting diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria around the world. He said the Foundation also helps farmers internationally to be able to make a living.

“But it all started with the AIDS work, and essentially what we did was to drastically cut the cost of producing and delivering AIDS medicine,” Bill Clinton told Ellen.

For more on the foundation, visit their website, clintonfoundation.org.

Ellen: Bill Clinton AIDS Charity Work

There are about 8 million AIDS patients in poor countries worldwide, and they are able to take advantage of prices negotiated by the Clinton Foundation. He said this also helped the foundation learn to save farmers money on supplies and equipment.

He and his foundation are also working with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, in the fight against obesity and diabetes. Together with soft drink manufacturers, they worked out a voluntary agreement to cut calories in the sodas in our schools by 88%.

It’s one thing to imagine being president, which probably every child does at some point. But the idea of life after the presidency is fascinating to me. It’s a truly American club with just a handful of living members at any given time, and it’s at least reassuring that they have the opportunity to pursue these types of passion projects after serving the country.